Intel AC 7260 - Channel bonding (40 MHz) on 2.4GHz with infrastructure mode

[MB16]

I'm using the AC 7260 (7260HMW) adapter in infrastructure mode on Windows 2012 R2. The AP has been created with the Windows hosted network facility. The problem is that the adapter does not use 2.4 GHz 802.11n channel bonding (40 MHz). What I'm expecting is that channel 11+7 are used with a maximum of speed of 300 Mbit/s. However the network shows up in the network analyzer running on channel 11 with a maximum speed of 144.4 Mbit/s. There are no other BSS (APs, STAs) in the environment which could influence the channel selection.

Driver Settings

===============

802.11n Channel Width for 2.4GHz = Auto

Wireless Mode=6. 802.11a/b/g

HT Mode=VHT Mode

Fat Channel Intolerant=Disabled

netsh wlan show

===============

Interface name: Wi-Fi

Driver : Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

Vendor : Intel Corporation

Provider : Intel

Date : 3/4/2015

Version : 18.0.0.11

INF file : C:\Windows\INF\oem13.inf

Files : 3 total

C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\Netwbw02.sys

C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\Netwfw02.dat

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\vwifibus.sys

Type : Native Wi-Fi Driver

Radio types supported : 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11a 802.11ac

FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes

802.11w Management Frame Protection supported : Yes

Hosted network supported : Yes

Hosted network settings

-----------------------

Mode : Allowed

SSID name : "abc"

Max number of clients : 100

Authentication : WPA2-Personal

Cipher : CCMP

Hosted network status

---------------------

Status : Started

BSSID : ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff (censored)

Radio type : 802.11n

Channel : 11

Number of clients : 0

[jbenavides]

Hello Mat6674,

I understand you are attempting to use the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for a hosted network with channel bonding.

Checking the http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-025393.htm advanced settings for the adapter, the option "Ad hoc channel 802.11 b/g" will only allow selecting a single channel of the 2.4 GHz band, it does not have the option to select a second channel for hosted networks.

The "802.11n channel width (band 2.4)" value has the option to set 40 MHz, but this may not apply to hosted networks.

We will check further on this to confirm if it is possible to do channel bonding with hosted networks, or if in fact, a single channel (20 MHZ) is the only option. We will update the thread as soon as we have additional information.

[jbenavides]

Hello Mat6674,

We reviewed your inquiry, and would like to inform you that we cannot guarantee that the adapter will be able to do what you are trying to achieve.

- Current Intel wireless adapters like the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 are designed for PC environments. Intel does not provide drivers compatible with Windows Server* for the adapter.

- The adapter is designed for basic hosted network usage, WiFi direct connections, or to be used as a WiFi client. You may use 3rd party software to set it as an enterprise AP, however, the adapter may not be support all the features available for enterprise integrations.

- The adapter driver only supports the selection of a single 2.4 GHz channel for Ad Hoc Networks. Additional configuration to use as AP with Channel bonding would rely on 3rd party software, so you might want to contact the software provider for assistance on this matter as well.

[MB16]

Does the adapter (in infrastructure mode) support channel bonding when using the 5 GHz band (802.11ac)?

[jbenavides]

The adapter is able to do channel bonding when operating in 802.11ac 5 GHz. However, Intel wireless adapters can't start hosted networks in 5 GHz due to regulatory compliance; as noted in question 5 of the http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-035591.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products - Current Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions

Please keep in mind that using the adapter in 5GHz with infrastructure mode is not supported by Intel, furthermore, the adapter is not supported with Windows Server* versions.

We cannot confirm if it will do channel bonding under that configuration, or whether it will work or not.

For your reference I would like to provide you with a previous forum where the user was attempting a similar configuration:

https://communities.intel.com/thread/32536 https://communities.intel.com/thread/32536